


Marooned

by NYWCgirl



Series: May whump 2020 [16]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Dehydration, Gen, Marooned, crash, injured jack, injured mac, sandbox, water whump 2020, ww-no.16
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-16
Updated: 2020-05-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:54:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24215497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NYWCgirl/pseuds/NYWCgirl
Summary: When Mac and Jack crash in the dessert, will they be found in time?
Series: May whump 2020 [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1727719
Comments: 7
Kudos: 35





	Marooned

**Author's Note:**

> This ficlet is written for the sixteenth day of May’s month of whump. The prompt was ‘Marooned'.

Jack blinks against the sun. Where are they? He groans when he wants to sit up and is unable to. He squeezes his eyes shut in an attempt to get the nausea under control. Definitely concussed.

What happened? Wait, Mac was with him, wasn´t he? Why hasn´t he heard from the kid?

Mac?

There is no response. He wants to get up but is stuck, only now does he realize he is sitting in a seat and is still wearing the seatbelt. Opening the buckle, he can sit up better. He remember know, Mac was sitting next him, so with some effort he is able to turn his head and there he is. The kid is slumped in his seat, it appears he had quite the hit against the door. There is a spider web crack in the window and blood and hair is tangled in it. Blood dripped over his face, which is hanging on his chest. His arm and leg looks busted to, hopefully they are not broken. They are in the middle of nowhere in the dessert. He looks behind him and all he can see is sand, as far as he can see.

OK, he needs to pulls his shit together and take care of Mac. He can´t stay in the car, in this heat, it will turn into an oven real quick. They will need shade during the day and shelter during the night.

What was he doing? Mac! He needed to look at Mac. When did the world start spinning? He takes slow deliberate breaths to fight the nausea. When the wave passes, he think what he was doing. Oh right, Mac…

He wobbles to the other side of the Humvee and tries to open the door, but it doesn´t give. So he walks back to the driver’s side and crawls into the car. He feels for a pulse and it is there, although too fast.

‘Hey Mac! Come on kid, I need your help here.’

The kid remains completely out, so the hard way it is. Jack rubs his knuckles over Mac’s sternum, but it only pulls a weak moan, not good and not what he had hoped for.

He does his best to assess whether it is safe to pull Mac out of the car. He can´t feel any swelling around Mac’s neck or spine and it will get too hot in the car real soon, so he will have to take the risk. He grabs Mac under his arms and pulls. He can feel his back protesting, but he gets Mac in the driver’s seat. Mac’s eyes mover under his eyelids is he must be waking up. When he finally manages to get Mac out of the Humvee, he lays him down in the sand on the shade side of the car. He checks Mac over once more, before putting him in recovery position. It is the best he can do at the moment while Mac is out. He also checks his own wounds, but them seem pretty superficial. God, he is thirsty already. They were on their way back to base after a long day, he still is not sure what happened. He will check on the car later, he just want to close his eyes for a moment.

* * *

When he wakes, it is slow and hard. His brain seems to slosh around in his head and it is accompanied with a pounding headache. He groans when he tries to open his eyes. For some reason it is hard, so he tries to lift his hand to feel what is going on. But when he moves his right arm, pain shoots through it and he cries out. He tries again with left and can feel that his eyes are sticky, something has run into it, so he rubs them. He needs to know what is going on. So he rubs until he is just too tired and lets his hand fall to the side, it hits the hot sand and now he really is confused, sand?

He opens his eyes and blinks against the sun, it is not as bright as in the day, it is setting, but still. When he finally has his eyes open he realizes he is laying on his side in the sand. He tries to get up, but when he moves, the pain in his leg and arm are just too much and consciousness is snuffed out.

* * *

Something pulls him out of his sleep, he is not sure, but it sounded like a cry. What happened? He scans his surroundings… sand. Right, they crashed. Mac!

‘Mac?’

He looks next to him and can see the kid laying still. What changed is the streaks of blood on his face. He must have wiped his eyes by the looks of it, so he was conscious.

‘Mac, come on, kid, wake up.’

They need water, he needs to get up and get some water and food. He should check what their supplies are and try to contact the base. Although by the look of the time the base must already be missing them. He feels Mac´s neck and when he feels a heartbeat, he sighs in relief.

When he tries to get up, he grunts, his back is killing him and sort of spasms. He pushes through it and unsteadily gets to his feet. Pulling open the cargo door at the back, he takes inventory of what is in there, Mac’s gear, his rifle, ammo, ah, a cool box with their water ration and some MRE’s. So they aren´t going to starve to death.

When he opens the cool box, his heart drops, there are only two bottles left; Not good, but better than nothing. First he needs to get the kid to regain consciousness. The longer he is out , the more worrisome the situation gets.

‘Mac! Come on hoss, wakey, wakey.’

He shakes Mac who doesn’t respond at first, but then there is a groan and a moan when the pain seems to start registering. He hates to have to cause Mac pain, but he needs Mac awake.

‘I know you are hurting, kid, but you’ve got to wake up.’

Mac’s eyes start to flutter and eventually he stares at Jack.

‘W’t h’p’d?’ he slurs.

‘I don’t know Mac, I haven’t figured that out yet, but I need you to drink some water.’

Mac slowly nods, immediately stopping the gesture. If Jack thought the kid was pale before, he now looks green.

‘Breathe through it Mac, you can’t afford to lose more fluids.’

Mac closes his eyes and swallows convulsively.

‘That’s it kid, you’re doing good.’

But Mac loses the battle and he starts to gag. It must hurt like hell by the looks of it.’

‘It’s OK, kid.’ Jack rubs Mac’s back until he is one, carefully pulling until Mac relaxes. He carefully pulls the kid away from the puddle, wiping Mac’s mouth with his handkerchief, before walking back to the car, getting the shovel and a bottle of water. He searches the MRE’s for some crackers. He quickly gets rid of the gross puddle. That done, he tries to get Mac to sit up, but it is clear that is not going to work so he goes back to the back of the car, rummaging through Mac’s gear until he finds his camel bag. He dumps the water inside, screwing the lid close and goes back to Mac. He puts the bag next to Mac and holds the tube in front of his mouth.

‘Drink, we can’t have you get dehydrated.’

Mac takes a couple of sips before he closes his eyes again.

‘Good job, Mac, but I also want you to eat a cracker.’

Opening his mouth without opening his eyes, Jack feeds him the cracker and a couple of more sips of water.

‘t’rd.’ Mac mumbles.

‘It is against medical advice to sleep with a concussion, but rest.’

When the tension leaves Mac’s body, Jack knows he fell asleep. He takes a couple of sips himself before laying down next to Mac and letting himself fall asleep.

* * *

When he wakes, it is because of the cold. It is dark. He stiffly gets up. The sleep stiffened his abused muscles. It did clear up some of the headache. He feels Mac’s pulse but it is still there, he doesn´t want to wake Mac, but they need to get in the car so they can preserve body heat and energy. He clears the back of the car, so he can lay Mac in there. He grunts from the effort when he picks up Mac, who wakes with a start.

‘H’rts.’ He moans.

‘I know kid, but we need to get in the car. It is too cold outside. Mac nods, teeth clenched together. Once he has Mac in the back, he closes the cargo door and slips in the front seat. This is not a good idea. So he starts moving the gear to the passenger seat before crawling in the back. He pulls the emergency blankets from their packs and tucks Mac in one before giving him some more water. He then lays down himself with the other blanket.

* * *

Jack wakes because of the oppressive heat. Sweat is pouring from his face and body. He slept all night and the sun has already climbed significantly. He needs to get Mac out of this baking tin.

‘Wake up, Mac, it’s a new day.’

He gently rubs Mac’s arms and he slowly comes to.

‘Good morning Mac, how are you feeling?

Mac seems to process the words because there is a frown on his face. 

‘It’s OK, kid, why don´t you drink something and eat another cracker? Or do you want?’ Jack checks the MRE’s, ‘a blueberry muffin or cheese crackers.’

When Mac just stare at him like he speaking Chinese, Jack holds the tube in front of Mac and let him sip some water. He then opens the muffin and breaks it is small pieces, feeding them to Mac. When he is done eating, Jack picks him up, and pulls him out of the car, putting him behind the car in the shade of the cargo door. He ties the emergency blanket so it provides more coverage, and it will reflect the heat. It is already sweltering, so he takes a careful sip. Mac needs the water more than him, but it appears that Mac fell asleep again. He will need to check out his injuries, maybe he can immobilize them or something, but first he needs to try and contact base. He had expected to have been found already, so this is not good.

* * *

Starting awake, Jack searches his memory as to when he fell asleep. He had been fiddling with the radio, but he couldn’t get it to work. He tried to get in touch with his inner Macgyver, but it didn´t work. It looked like the damn thing worked, but he couldn’t get anyone on the line. He looks at Mac who is still too still, it worries him. He checks his watch and sees it is time Mac drink something again. So he shakes Mac.

‘Go ‘way.’ He mumbles.

‘Sorry kid, you need to drink.’

‘N’t thirsty.’ Mac whines.

‘Still, you need to drink.’

Mac sips weakly at the tube, while his eyes slip close again. Jack worries, this continuous fainting can’t be good. He managed earlier to immobilize Mac’s arm and leg, so hopefully that takes care of the pain when Mac moves. Still, Mac is in bad shape and needs medical attention. When he wants to take a sip himself, he notices the camel bag is empty. Great. Well, he will have to wait before they open the last bottle. He is alright for now. Mac needs the water more than him. He is from Texas after all.

* * *

‘Sergeant Dalton? Sergeant Dalton! Wake up!’

Jack blearily opens his salt crusted eyelids.

‘W’ht?’

‘Welcome back sergeant. I’m a medic. We took your tech already to the chopper, but now it is your turn. How are you feeling?

When Jack wants to say something, he can feel his lip crack and something warm ooze. The medic notices and debs whatever it is, probably blood away and puts some ointment on his lips.

‘I know you are thirsty, but I already have you on a drip, so your body is getting enough fluids, but you will feel thirsty. We will give you something when we get to base.’

Jack nods. He knows the drill. He lifts his hand and as the medic said, there is an IV in his hand. When did that happen and why didn´t he wake for it.

‘OK, guys, we’re gonna take him to the bird.’

Suddenly whatever he is laying on, is picked up and lifted and it makes him nauseous. The medic must see it, because he asks everyone to stop and injects something in the IV-line. 

‘Something against the nausea, but I must warn you, it will make you drowsy.’

‘How’s Mac?’

‘He will be OK, some broken bones, severe concussion, but he will be alright. Now, let’s get you back to base shall we?’

‘How did you find us?’

‘We got your call.’

So he did manage to get the radio to work. Maybe Mac rubs off on him more than he thinks or likes to admit. Jack nods, closing his eyes. They will take care of Mac and him.


End file.
